Camden County Prosecutor Mary Eva Colalillo announced that a Camden teen pleaded guilty today to a pair of 2013 armed robberies.
Raekwon Simmons, 19, pleaded guilty today to two counts of first-degree armed robbery. He faces a recommended sentence of 18 years in state prison.
Simmons and a co-defendant, 25-year-old Shamar T. Lee of Camden, are accused of carrying out gunpoint robberies at the Xpress Market on the 2500 block of Woodlynne Avenue in Woodlynne on November 14, 2013, and Jordan Communications Plus on the 500 block of North 5th Street in Camden on November 27, 2013.
Lee is also charged in connection with eight other robberies at convenience stores and markets as well as for holding up people on the street throughout November 2013.
Many of the incidents took place in the area near Mount Ephraim Avenue, Ferry Avenue and Woodlynne Avenue, where Woodlynne, Collingswood and an enclave of Haddon Township share borders with Camden.
In one incident, Lee allegedly held employees in the bathroom at gunpoint during a robbery at the Mucha Luna Grocery on 3000 block of Mount Ephraim Avenue in Haddon Township on November 19, 2013. In another robbery, he is accused of attempting to sexually assault a female clerk in the bathroom at Lilly’s Market on the 2000 block of Woodlynne Avenue in Woodlynne on November 24, 2013.
Simmons is scheduled to be sentenced on August 28 before Superior Court Judge Kathleen M. Delaney.
He will be subject to the No Early Release Act and will be required to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before he can be considered eligible for parole.
The charges against Lee are still pending trial.